Photog Trades Dignity for Recognition With Awful Studio Portraits

Perm

Beehive

Governor

Magician

Lover

Mutton chops

Curls

Stubble

Dreads

Rocker

Institutional

Key West

Gringo Starr

Mohawk

Country

Suave

Bieber

Comb-over

High and tight

Skullet

It’s difficult to get noticed in the world of photography. Meetings, handshakes, business cards, portfolio reviews, follow-up e-mails and thank-you cards create a fog of noise that’s almost impossible to cut through. That’s why photographer and adjunct professor at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Gordon Stettinius developed his own idiosyncratic way of staying in the memory – by sending intentionally bad 8x10s of himself, in character, as follow-ups to industry professionals.

“I sign portraits as though I am that somebody,” says Stettinius.

For the past five years, Stettinius has sculpted beards, raided wardrobes and spray-tanned his way into over two dozen alter-egos. Made in collaboration with studio photographer Terry Brown, the Mangini Studio Series features a leather-clad punk, a clean-cut governor, a wrestler and ’80s diva among others.

Described by Stettinius as “a prank run amok,” the Mangini Studio Series grew out of Brown and Stettinius’ shared nostalgia for the studio session.

“We are content for the image quality to be more like that of a promotional glossy from a generic portrait studio than as a fine art print,” says Stettinius, “The cheesiness quotient is pretty high.”

Stettinius self-confesses a “disquieting need to experiment with the proud but oft-maligned permanent-wave hairstyle.” From the perm, he has ventured into mullets, skullets, skinheads and cornrows. His country singer resembles the creepy Dr. Jacoby from David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. But to be fair, all of Stettinius’ personalities are unnerving; just consider Comb-over.

“I can only grow my hair so fast, so patience is a requisite,” says Stettinius, “Terry and I can only get together every couple of months.”

On occasion, his unorthodox promotion backfires. “My looks change somewhat and thank-yous have sometimes been met with confusion,” says Stettinius. “One L.A. gallery asked me to never send anything to them again. Ever. I might send a follow-up.”

The Mangini portraits are always accompanied by a letter, written in-character. The letter from Stettinius’ wrestler, named Gringo Starr, includes “useful tidbits about his favorite author (Margaret Atwood) or his hobbies (that he collect statues that are part women and part other things) or news about about his ongoing feuds with Johnny Tempest or Cinder Ellis.

Influenced by Roger Ballen, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Emmett Gowin, Sally Mann and E.J. Bellocq, there is more going on under Stettinius’s perm than tickling audiences’ funny bones. The Mangini Studio Series is subversive in its irreverence and bending of an aesthetic most eyes have been trained to see as embarrassingly bad. Stettinius says the humor of the project is just one facet of his interest, and that he also enjoys political discourse, explorations of identity or “sub-cultural tribes” in photography.

In an ironic twist, Stettinius has now branched into publishing and may soon be the victim of tactics similar to his own as he himself is courted by photographers. In 2010, Stettinius founded Candela Books and published work by the late Gita Lenz and by Appalachian photographer Shelby Lee Adams. Candela’s third book, Chris McCaw’s Sunburn, will be printed this summer. In the past 18 months, Stettinius has opened the Candela Gallery in Richmond, Virginia; hired an associate director; and established an annual invitational/juried exhibition to raise funds to purchase photography for the Candela Collection.

The Mangini Studio series has shown in the Portrayal/Betrayal exhibition at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and the Virginia Museum of Art acquired a selection of the portraits this year. Brown and Stettinius are considering making a book of the series.

If it happens, the book may be the final cap on the project.

“There have been some pretty rough transitions between certain looks,” says Stettinius “So, while there are several more hairstyle archetypes in the works, I look forward to retiring from this particular series!”

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